Responding to Disasters
Thoughts from HowWiseThen
Today I’ve got the Hill Country flood on my mind. First and foremost, I’ve already sent a donation to a Disaster Response organization and encourage you to do the same to a place you trust. Every little bit really does help. While it is obvious that financial donations help, what may be less obvious, but equally important, is the impact donations have on morale in a disaster zone. It lets people know they’re not alone as they begin to figure out what to do next.
I’ve been too close for comfort to numerous hurricanes. The only impact to me personally has been the hassle of evacuating, a few downed fences, and the loss of limbs from a few trees. But I’ve walked through disaster areas resulting from floods, wind, and fire. Seeing a disaster zone has a chilling effect that cannot be replicated in photos. What I saw after Katrina and Rita led me to take a six-month leave from parish duties to work with disaster response personnel along the Gulf Coast.
I’ve seen more evidence of the goodness and resilience of people in disaster zones than just about anywhere else I’ve been. I’ve seen volunteers sitting on curbs surrounded by debris and garbage, listening to people who lost absolutely everything tell their story over and over and over. I’ve seen teenagers and grandparents working up blisters hauling water-soaked furniture and other items to the curb. I’ve met people who, only days earlier, had homes, cars, jobs, and stability, now sleeping on cots in massive shelters.
Disasters Bring out the Best - and Worse
Disasters bring out both the very best we have to offer one another and the very worst. In any disaster, you’ll find looters rummaging around stealing whatever they can find. But you’ll also find people setting up feeding stations, hauling in portable showers and trailers with washers and dryers. You’ll find churches turning classrooms into dorm rooms. You’ll find neighbors setting up stations near the edge of the floodwaters to help people return to their flooded homes by canoe, rowboat, or kayak, retrieving whatever they can.
You’ll find people delivering meals and medicine. Here are a few disaster stories I either witnessed myself or heard from people I know in the field. I hope they inspire you to send a donation — no matter how modest — to a reputable disaster response organization.
A Horse Trailer Full of Hope
Note: DO NOT START COLLECTING AND SHIPPING THINGS WITHOUT CONSULTING AN ON-THE-GROUND ORGANIZATION.
A kindergarten teacher in Iowa learned that school supplies were needed on the Gulf Coast. She had her children draw pictures for displaced children and bring in school supplies to donate. The principal got wind of it and made it a school project. The mayor heard about it and made it a community project. When it came time to deliver the “thinking of you” notes and supplies, two local farmers filled a horse trailer front to back and top to bottom with the things they’d rounded up. As farmers, they couldn’t afford to take time off to volunteer in the disaster zone, but they had time to make a quick trip from Iowa to Louisiana and back. They drove straight through the night. I was fortunate enough to be at the church where arrangements had been made to deliver the items.
That church had six feet of water and had just completed tearing out all the drywall. A little girl there was so proud of helping get rid of the flooded materials that she offered the farmers a tour of the place. They took the tour, accepted the meal others had brought for them, and got back in their truck to return to their farms in Iowa.
One Thing Leads to Another
After Katrina, the pastor of one of the many flooded churches relocated to Memphis, TN, but continued to commute back to Chalmette, LA, to maintain services despite the flooded church. He reported how one member of that church started taking supplies to nearby fishing villages. She partnered with someone she met along the way and expanded the outreach. Then they received a $7,000 grant from a Brittney Spears Fund through someone who knew someone who... You get the idea. Small deeds yield big results.
Where Is God in a Disaster?
God is wherever two or three show up with compassion, hope, and concrete examples of love, service, and supplies. A new pastor accepted a call to a congregation in New Orleans just as Katrina flooded the church. Not to be deterred, he invited evacuees to the lobby of the Jackson, Mississippi, motel where he and many parishioners had fled. There, he led worship, providing communion with a leftover bagel and a plastic cup for a chalice. Later, after the water receded, they filled the church fellowship hall with mattresses so that volunteers would have a place to sleep.
God showed up through a retired pastor from the state of Washington who went down to New Orleans to volunteer, intending to stay a few days. He stayed for three months, serving as an impromptu volunteer coordinator at a local church that housed many more volunteers.
God was present in the form of children in Hawaii who made a “noisy offering” of loose change to donate to the cause. God may be hiding in our wallets or checkbooks, waiting for us to turn God loose to make a difference.
In It for the Long Haul
Disasters typically unfold over a few horrific and terrifying hours or days. Rescue teams rush in any way they can get there and stay until they’ve found every single person they possibly can. Even as they search for survivors, relief teams are setting up temporary shelters, hauling in water, food, medicine, and other essential supplies. Soon, dozens of recovery organizations begin settng up their local command centers. Revolving teams of professional staff and volunteers get to work cleaning up, rebuilding, repairing, and completing all the hundreds of tasks it takes to transform a disaster zone into a functional community, helping disaster victims become disaster survivors and eventually thrive.
It Takes a Village
All this depends on us. Our donations are the fuel that keeps this process going for as long as it takes. Volunteers will be welcome and needed — IF they are properly prepared. Overzealous, untrained people rushing in without a plan or a specific purpose make things harder for the professionals managing the situation. If you do want to help, here are a few resources to equip you:
God in the Raging Waters by Paul Blom - a collection of amazing stories of generosity and creative responses to disasters.
A Ready Hope by Carol H. Flores and Kathryn Haueisen - we wrote this as a training manual for individuals who want to assist with the recovery process and for those living through disasters to gain an understanding of how recovery unfolds over the first year. FYI: I will donate any royalties or income from the sale of the book.
Where to Connect to Donate/Volunteer:
National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters is a network of over 70 of the nation’s most reputable organizations, collectively handling every aspect of disaster recovery. On their website, you will find information about how to get involved, things to know before you go, and examples of ways to contribute your donations and your labor.
Southwest Texas (Lutheran) Synod has a disaster response team in place and is already networking with other faith-based organizations to coordinate a response to the Hill Country flooding. Their offices are close to Kerr County, the epicenter of the flooding. Many other faith-based organizations are also gearing up for the long recovery process and can suggest the best ways you can help.
Community Foundation of Texas Hill Country - Since the 1980s, this foundation has distributed approximately $6 million annually to local causes. It is currently channeling donations toward disaster relief and recovery needs in the area, so severely damaged by the July 4th floods.
As always, thank you for reading along. We can’t control when, how, or where the next disaster will strike. We can commit to learn how to be a useful helper when the next one comes along.
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Mary Brewster's Love Life: Paperback, hardback, audio, and eBook. Bookshop.org
Mayflower Chronicles: Paper, audio, eBook. Bookshop.org
Asunder: Paper. HowWiseThen.com
A Ready Hope: Paper, eBook. Bloomsbury.com
40 Day Journey with Kathleen Norris: Paper. Augsburg Fortress
God in the Raging Waters. Paper. Amazon.com
Married & Mobile. Paper. HowWiseThen.com
Thank you for the info.
Excellent! Well written--as always.